Anne and I got to go see The Pee Wee Herman show last night. It was phenomenal, and I realized about 20 minutes into the show that I was sitting on the edge of my seat, grinning and jumping around like a little kid ... because that's pretty much how I used to watch Pee Wee's Playhouse. After the...

Sigh. Again with the hogging of the awesome, Wil? Again with that? The rest of us are stuck hoping for an Awesomeness Stimulus Package, and with the budget like it is--well, if NASA can't build the next rocket series, then I don't think we'll be getting fresh moon-harvested awesome anytime soon.
It's often better not to know you're in the company of genius until AFTER the event, I find, in order to prevent fanboi/fangirl drooling, stumbling and sliming all over the genius in public.

Because I am too busy for a proper post, I offer a very brief trip report: I went to Seattle at the end of last week, where I not only got to spend three days with my friends from Penny Arcade, I finally got to take a tour of the Wizards of the Coast offices after years of being invited to check...

I had a rather ... interesting ... weekend. According to Paul and Storm on Sunday, I won the game of "What I did last night" that I didn't even know we were playing. It was so surreal, I'm mostly writing this down today so I never forget what an incredible time we had. Saturday, Anne and I were ...

I heard a Tom Jones song yesterday, and resolved to spend some time listening to his catalog today while I worked. This lead me to discover two really great albums on Rhapsody that I probably never would have found otherwise. The first is called James Bond 007 13 Original Themes which is exactl...

My dog Ferris, who was rescued from a bus stop in Monrovia by my wife Anne almost exactly 8 years ago, had a heart attack and died this morning. It happened very quickly, and I was with her, which is supposed to make me feel better, but at this moment all I can feel is nearly-unbearable sorrow, ...

A few months ago, while playing Left 4 Dead, I found myself cowering in a closet, absolutely terrified to go back out and face the horde. I knew that I had to move so the game would continue, but I just didn't want to go out and take my chances. I didn't know at the time that L4D has this sinist...

This was so worth the wait.
I've been arguing for two weeks now that MJ was the biggest worldwide star in history. You can try to argue for Ali, or Madonna, or Pele, or someone else, but when it comes to real worldwide (Asia, Africa, Middle East, EVERYWHERE), there is no one bigger than MJ.
Lots of folks reacted badly to the coverage of his death and memorial. Charlie Gibson on ABC seemed particularly resentful of spending the time to cover the memorial. But other newsmen/women were much more thoughtful, understanding the huge impact he had on the entire world.
And yet, he was just a man, once a boy, shoved into the spotlight in a relentless fashion from a very young age. The whole saga is so sad.

I gotta say that I would never have a problem with the President's family accompanying him/her on a trip of this nature. I don't care who the president is....did you do a lot of complaining about Laura Bush accompanying George on his various trips?

I hope you'll permit me a little finger wagging in tracking how things like this get started. First, shame on the Daily Mail for posting images of Malia Obama on Thursday claiming that her wearing this t-shirt (and then one other with a peace sign) while her Dad was negotiating arms control...

Anne and I went to the grocery store this afternoon. When it was time to get the orange juice, there was only one left, and it was way in the back of the cooler. I reached in really far to get it, and as I did, Anne began to sing the chorus from Take On Me. If you follow me on Twitter, you alrea...

Shaq has some geek cred because of Twitter, yes...see this for reference:
http://sesquipedalis.blogspot.com/2009/02/finally-use-for-twitter.html
I think that makes Shaq a cool geek, myself.
And while I've never played D&D, I too think it looks fun. And I'm an ubergeeky girl myself.

I've gotten a ton of criticism from people about the I Am a Geek video that launched yesterday, and I feel the need to respond to it. After watching the video yesterday, I was impressed by the production values, and I thought it was really awesome that it was just one small part of a larger proj...

1. Galaga
2. Ms. Pac Man
3. Centipede
4. Asteroids
And may I recommend a cheap video game that gives some of the thrills of pinball arcades? We picked up Pinball Hall of Fame, the Gottlieb Collection, used, at a local GameStop for about 8 bucks. It has reproductions of classic pinball tables from the past, and it's a real hoot to play. Our 8 year old loves it...I'm hoping to find some real-life pinball machines near us to take her to see sometime.

One of the super-useful bits of advice I picked up somewhere about writing and blogging goes like this: most people can't write for a book and a blog at the same time, because our brains get different kinds of feedback and rewards from each. For most of us, if we had to pick, we'll write in our ...

My awesome dog story: six-month old dog got her collar stuck on the bottow drawer of my dishwasher--she was "helping" to clean off the dishes. Fortunately, it was just being filled, because she and the entire drawer ended up in the other room, where she commenced a major freakout until the collar broke.
I could not stop laughing, poor thing was in such a state.
She didn't try to eat out of the dishwasher for several weeks after, but it didn't keep her away forever.....

When you break the world down into dog people and cat people, I guess I'm mostly a dog person, even though I've loved every cat I've ever owned. Sometimes, though, my dog tests me, like in this entry from the vault... When I was at CES [a few weeks ago] for InDigital, I got a phone call from Ann...

Can I just say that what I really want is just a cell phone with a decent keyboard for texting. I don't want a camera in the damn thing. I don't want a flashlight. I don't want it to calculate tips for me, or play games. I just want a phone with keyboard. Hate that.

Yesterday, I started writing a monthly column for Amazon's End User Blog. For my first column, I looked at a really cool device that's battling something I call Feature Creep: ...it’s increasingly difficult to find things that do just one thing, and do it very well. I blame this on something I ...

Ouch. I broke an arm falling like that--turns out when you fall on one arm, and the other is carrying a 30 lb. toddler, you are going to break something. Hope you heal up quickly, and be sure to breathe deeply so you don't get pneumonia.

Though based on actual events, some of this has been . . . enhanced . . . for dramatic effect. On Friday, I took Anne to the Moonlight roller rink for her birthday. It was totally awesome, and we had exactly the kind of fun we remembered having when we went to roller rinks as kids, which was kin...

Ouch. I broke an arm falling like that--turns out when you fall on one arm, and the other is carrying a 30 lb. toddler, you are going to break something. Hope you heal up quickly, and be sure to breathe deeply so you don't get pneumonia.

Though based on actual events, some of this has been . . . enhanced . . . for dramatic effect. On Friday, I took Anne to the Moonlight roller rink for her birthday. It was totally awesome, and we had exactly the kind of fun we remembered having when we went to roller rinks as kids, which was kin...

In about an hour, I'll be at the studio to be fitted for my Criminal Minds wardrobe. Tomorrow, I start work on the show. The script's been rewritten a few times since I first read it, and I've been able to read each draft in its entirety, which has been really interesting to me as a writer, as I...

In about an hour, I'll be at the studio to be fitted for my Criminal Minds wardrobe. Tomorrow, I start work on the show. The script's been rewritten a few times since I first read it, and I've been able to read each draft in its entirety, which has been really interesting to me as a writer, as I...

To the poster who is 40 and doesn't think this book is for him/her: I'm 40, I tore through LB in one day, and I loved it. It's a shame that the 17-year old protagonist means that the book is narrowly categorized as YA...this book is for everyone. I loved it.
Summertime is for reading. I'd love to see a list of Wil's other faves so I can build a list for the rest of the summer....

Earlier today, I spent about an hour composing a post, filled with links to groovy stories I'd found in the last couple of days while I found links to submit to Propeller. I added brilliantly trenchant commentary to each link, in what was destined to become a post for the ages. You, dear reader...

To the poster who is 40 and doesn't think this book is for him/her: I'm 40, I tore through LB in one day, and I loved it. It's a shame that the 17-year old protagonist means that the book is narrowly categorized as YA...this book is for everyone. I loved it.
Summertime is for reading. I'd love to see a list of Wil's other faves so I can build a list for the rest of the summer....

Earlier today, I spent about an hour composing a post, filled with links to groovy stories I'd found in the last couple of days while I found links to submit to Propeller. I added brilliantly trenchant commentary to each link, in what was destined to become a post for the ages. You, dear reader...

Tuesday night, I asked Andrew (my editor and good friend, for those of you who are just walking into the theater for the first time) if he thought we could put together a chapbook for the 2008 Geek Tour . . . and have it ready to give to the printer about 18 hours later. Andrew is a fucking rock...

Tuesday night, I asked Andrew (my editor and good friend, for those of you who are just walking into the theater for the first time) if he thought we could put together a chapbook for the 2008 Geek Tour . . . and have it ready to give to the printer about 18 hours later. Andrew is a fucking rock...

So glad to hear you are improving! Does ODANBWTVAS allow for watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? I remember your audition and wondered if you were enjoying the show. I think the show absolutely does not suck, myself.

Yesterday, I woke up feeling about 50% of normal. It's the closest I've felt to normal since I went in for surgery, so it was a huge improvement. I got all the way up to about 70% by the late afternoon, but was back down to 50% by the time I went to bed. I feel pretty much the same, this morning...

So glad to hear you are improving! Does ODANBWTVAS allow for watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? I remember your audition and wondered if you were enjoying the show. I think the show absolutely does not suck, myself.

Yesterday, I woke up feeling about 50% of normal. It's the closest I've felt to normal since I went in for surgery, so it was a huge improvement. I got all the way up to about 70% by the late afternoon, but was back down to 50% by the time I went to bed. I feel pretty much the same, this morning...